No. 1 Creighton Edges ODU In OT, 2-1

NORFOLK, VA—Bruno Castro’s goal with 4:23 left in the second overtime period lifted Top ranked Creighton (4-0) to a 2-1 victory over Old Dominion (1-2) Friday night at the 38th annual Stihl Soccer Classic in front of a crowd of 2,106 at the ODU Soccer Stadium, which was the largest regular season crowd at the stadium since the 2006 match here against No. 4 Maryland (3,331). In the earlier game W&M and Central Florida battled to a 1-1 tie.

“It was a very entertaining match for the crowd. I thought we had the better of the first half and I thought Creighton had the better of the second half,” said ODU head coach Alan Dawson. “ I think at the end what really hurt us was the fact that we didn’t have as many subs to put into the game, and they wore us down a little bit, and eventually got the winner. I feel so bad for my kids. I think their performance was fantastic, and I am very proud of our team. The crowd and atmosphere was fantastic tonight. It’s entertaining and lifts the team up, and we thank the crowd for being here and supporting us.”

The Monarchs took the early lead in the first half after a foul in the box. Junior Ivan Militar (Szeged, Hungary) scored on a penalty to put ODU up 1-0. The Monarchs dominated play, outshooting the Bluejays 11-2 in the first half.

In the second half Creighton got the equalizer 13 minutes into the half after an ODU foul in the box.

Bluejays senior Zach Barnes then tied the match with the penalty kick.

In the second OT period Vincent Kelly shot was blocked and Bruno Castro gathered the rebound and put it in to end the match.

The Monarchs outshot Creighton, 20-13 overall and 6-5 in shots on goal. ODU’s senior keeper Sean Stowe had three saves on the night, while Creighton’s Alex Bolowich had five.

On Sunday, Creighton will play W&M at 12 noon and ODU will play UCF at 2:30